CUTLER, John

More can be added to the earlier biography.6 The Commons 1386-1421, ii. 727-8.

Cutler’s trade or profession is uncertain, but there are reasons to suppose that he may have had some legal training. He was generally styled a gentleman, rather than a merchant, and is on occasion found standing surety in the law courts of both Exeter and Westminster.7 Exeter mayor’s ct. roll 4-5 Hen. VI, rot. 7d; KB27/781, rex rot. 33d. If so, it is likely that he was the man who served as one of the ministers of the sheriff of Devon in 1422-3, and a few years later became under sheriff of the county.8 JUST1/1536, rots. 21, 23d; 1540, rot. 64d; CP40/664, rot. 301. Equally in keeping with the career of a professional administrator is the prominent part that Cutler played in the city’s political and legal affairs throughout the reign of Henry VI. He was appointed to deputize for the absent mayor on at least four separate occasions,9 Exeter receiver’s accts. 18-19 Hen. VI, m. 2; 30-31 Hen. VI, m. 2; 35-36 Hen. VI, m. 2; Letters and Pprs. Shillingford, 23, 39. and was regularly involved in the more delicate negotiations to be conducted. Thus, in 1428-9 he was among the citizens charged with supervising the annual fair at Topsham, in 1430-1 he was present at the negotiations over the purchase from the executors of Peter Sturt† of a plot of land for a new water conduit, in 1446-8 he doggedly rode time and time again between Exeter and the house of the city recorder, Nicholas Radford*, at Poughill to keep him informed of the progress made in the city’s great quarrel with the cathedral chapter, as well as acting as go-between with Bishop Edmund Lacy, and in the crisis months of early 1461, aged over 60, he undertook the dangerous journey to London to ensure that the citizens of Exeter were kept in touch with the dramatic developments on the political stage.10 Exeter receiver’s accts. 7-8, 9-10, 25-28 Hen. VI, 39 Hen. VI-1 Edw. IV.

Cutler’s purported abuses of his authority as mayor of the staple seem predominantly to have fallen into his early years in office. This was true of his imprisonment of the prior of Cowick in 1429, and of his supposed maltreatment of Richard Cremyll in or before 1430. Equally, in the autumn of 1425 he was accused of having abused his office by arresting one William Almescombe whom he was himself suing in the court of common pleas, but was able to point to a separate suit for debt brought in the staple court by another merchant of the staple. As in this instance, it is not clear that Cutler abused his powers, and the complaints against him may have owed much to attempts by those convicted in the staple court to have their cases reviewed at Westminster.11 CP40/660, rot. 318; 677, rot. 329; C244/3/131, 50/139; C254/141/138.

It is indicative of Cutler’s standing in Exeter that he was normally able to command comparatively generous wages for his service in the Commons. Although in 1421 he was paid a mere lump sum of 20s., in 1425 he received £6 13s. 4d., an amount close to the customary rate of 2s. per day, in 1429 he and his colleague Walter Pope* shared £16 19s. 6d., still a rate of more than a shilling a day, if the money was shared equally between the two MPs, and in 1461-2 he was paid a total of 70s. in two instalments.12 Exeter receiver’s accts. 8-9 Hen. V, m. 2l; 3-4 Hen. VI, m. 3; 8-9 Hen. VI, m. 1d; 1-2 Edw. IV, m. 1d.

Only occasionally can Cutler’s private quarrels be glimpsed. Thus, in the autumn of 1422 he was suing the skinner Walter Pope and two Exeter butchers for debts of 40s. each;13 CP40/647, rot. 85d. in 1430-1 in the Exeter mayor’s court he charged the local merchant William Frenssh with deception;14 Exeter mayor’s ct. roll 9-10 Hen. VI, rot. 30d. in mid 1447 the justices of common pleas heard that Cutler and two associates had the previous December assaulted one of the servants of Adam Somaster* at Exeter,15 CP40/745, rot. 324d. while in the summer of 1452 the Honiton mercer William Hilling was in his turn suing Cutler for a debt of £11.16 CP40/766, rot. 53d. Cutler may have had a personal interest in the city’s quarrel with the cathedral chapter, for at the Exeter assizes of July 1434 he was himself squabbling with the dean and chapter over a tenement, albeit in St. Sidwell’s, rather than St. Stephen’s fee, and the matter had still not been settled by the early months of 1446.17 CP40/740, rot. 410.